Larry Catá Backer's comments on current issues in transnational law and policy. These essays focus on the constitution of regulatory communities (political, economic, and religious) as they manage their constituencies and the conflicts between them. The context is globalization. This is an academic field-free zone: expect to travel "without documents" through the sometimes strongly guarded boundaries of international relations, constitutional, international, comparative, and corporate law.

Friday, February 03, 2017

Miguel Fraga, First Secretary at the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in the U.S. Speaks at Penn State on "Cuba-US Relations: Current State of Affairs"

Miguel Fraga, First Secretary at the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in
Washington, D.C. since the re-establishment of diplomatic relations on
July 2015, visited Penn State University Park campus to give a
talk entitled “Cuba-US Relations: Current State of Affairs.” The talk was co-sponsored by Global Penn State, the School of
International Affairs and The Center for Global Studies and is free and
open to the public. (See, e.g., here).

Mr. Fraga was appointed First Secretary in June 2015 to the then Cuban
Interests Section. Since 2006 he has worked in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in both the North American and U.S. divisions and the Office of
the Minister. From 2008 to 2011 he served at the Cuban Embassy in
Canada. Prior to that, from 2003 to 2008, Mr. Fraga was a member of the
People's Power Provincial Assembly of the City of Havana which is the
provincial parliament in Havana. He graduated from the University of Havana Faculty of Law,
following in 2005 with a Master of Science in Foreign Relations from the
Higher Institute of Foreign Relations “Raúl Roa García.”

The address by the First Secretary provides an important and lucid
exposition of the Cuban perspective on our bilateral relations and their
focus going forward. This post includes links to the recording of the talk as well as my summary observation of his excellent remarks. Stories about the event here, and here. The Centre County Report news video on Mr. Fraga’s visit may be accessed here.

First Secretary Fragaprovided a glimpse at the skill of Cuban diplomats in the service of
their country and its interests.Presentation sought to frame the best case presentation of Cuba’s
perspectives and goals in the context of both globalization and of Cuba’s place
in the world. To the understanding of Cuban thinking along those lines the
presentation was worth attending.

First Secretary Frega He started with the general question
of the sense of Cuba in the US and the
issue of the possibility of normal relations between the US and Cuba. He sought
to frame the issue around a set of questions: Why is it not possible? Because
of communism? Authoritarianism? Human rights? The US has not seen these as
obstacles in its other relations but Cuba is special.Even more special because travel to Cuba by
US citizens is still restricted.

He then asked: Why the 1959 Revolution? A great
anti-colonialist eruption, especially one against the neo colonialism of the
United States during the Batista regime.He showed a quote to that effect and noted that it came from President
Kennedy in 1963. He adroitly used Hollywood imagery to capture in a rich way
the Cuban narrative of life on the Island before 1959.Cuba before 1959 was Godfather Part II, and
it was that corruption and dependence that, for the Cuban state, continues to
serve as the master narrative of revolutionary justification.

Interestingly, First Secretary Fraga sought to spin the
failed Bay of Pigs intervention in a positive way.Rather than focus, as had been customary on
the Bay of Pigs as the archetypical example of interventionism that marked U.S.
Cuba relations before the purification of the 1959 Revolution, First Secretary Fraga
framed its place in the global narrative as a key event that served the global
powers to avoid nuclear war.There was a
suggestion of the caprice of timing—that President Kennedy might have been
seeking normalization immediately before his assassination. But that wisp of
possibility, so lightly suggested came and went quickly, though perhaps
effectively so.

Having situated Cuba in its history, First Secretary Fraga
sought to situate Cuba in the world. “What is Cuba?”, he asked?He answered first with a set of statistics
and then with an analysis woven around those statistics. First, Cuba is its 11 million people, a
population smaller than Pennsylvania.He
passed over the demographic profile of the Republic, now closer to that of
Japan than to that of neighboring states, a subject of some interest. Second,
he suggested the productivity of this 11 million people.Interestingly, and in an unstated nod to generations
of skepticism about the robustness of Cuban supplied data, long a sore point
within and outside Cuba he drew on international sources, especially to the
extent they enhanced the narrative he was building. Cuba, he suggested Cuban GDP
at $77 billion (2014). He noted that the private sector was growing; now 10% of
labor force in the private sector. But he avoided discussion of Cuban Marxist
Leninist principles that frame that growth, from the strict cabining of
occupations open for private sector work (all licensed) through the forms of
enterprise through which such activities might be undertaken (labor
cooperatives yes, corporate capital aggregating enterprises officially no). Nor
was there much discussion about the relationship of labor to either labor
pricing or private enterprises and markets.It would have been helpful, for example for a mention of the Cuban
rejection of markets and a robust discussion of the reasons for this
fundamental difference between Chinese andCuban Marxism.But of course that was not the point of the
statistical evidence.Rather, and quite
effectively, its object was to normalize Cuba as something other than a grim
reminder of the colorless marginal realities of Eastern European socialism
before 1989, an image that First Secretary Fraga might correctly have assumed
was not very far from the minds of outsiders when thinking about Cuba.

There was another objective as well—the Cuban state is
relentlessly combatting the alternative narrative of life within Cuba that is
spun by those beyond the control of the Cuban state apparatus.And it is to this countering of the counter
narrative that some of the statistic proved most useful. For example, per
capita income of $6,789.80 (2013) was effectively used to counter the
perception that Cubans do not earn enough to support themselves except in a
state of abject poverty—and more subtly to counter the idea, widely circulating
abroad, that the Cuban economy and its people is supported only through the
effective organization of corruption both in the sense of personal corruption
and in the sense of systemic corruption (that is of a system that must look the
other way to ensure the survival of its citizens). Those narrative ghosts were
apparent in the pains that First Secretary Fraga took to note the importance of
context in comparisons between rich and poor states.The perspective that was underlined was one
that noted that as compared to the richest hegemons Cuban living standards
might be modest, but in comparison with its own equivalent states the Cuban
people were living well enough. The emphasis was on the difference between
poverty, modest lives and deprivation of basic necessities.To that extent First Secretary Fraga’s point
was well taken, though Cubans are poor they are not deprived.That, certainly has been at the heart of
Cuban social planning, and it underlies much of the anti consumer culture
principles that werehallmark of Fidel
Castro’s thinking for the last 30 or so years. Indeed, that anti-consumerism
proved an important element in both the choice of statistics and in the
assessment of Cuban achievement with First Secretary Fraga’s emphasis that poverty
is relative and the standard of living is distinct form the level of living
measured by consumption.

In this context First Secretary Fraga provided a look at Cuba
at a glance: life expectancy, live births, immunization, physicians per 1000,
literacy, improved water sources, improved sanitation. 12.8% of GDP spent on
education, 8% on health, 51% of budget go to health and education; military
gets 3.5% of GDP. Cuba, of course, devotes tremendous resources on sport.77 Gold medals, 60 silver and 74 bronze, of
which they are proud.Baseball remains
important, something he is very proud of.199 players born in Cuba have played baseball in the U.S. But to play
baseball, Cubans must defect—an odd state of affairs emphasized by First
Secretary Fraga. HR 573 now proposes to waive prohibitions of Cuban nationals
seeking to play organized professional baseball. 1980s Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
first Afro Cuban in space. Eliminated severe child malnutrition, and fist state
to receive WHO validation for eliminating mother to child transmission of HUV
and syphilis.

Internet access and communications were the subject of
consideration as well.Andhere First
Secretary Fraga used the opportunity to turn the discussion from the usual
Western focus on the use of technology as a principal method for the
maintenance of a free and robust autonomous civil society and civil discourse
within a polity, to the discussion that is at the heart of the Cuban
approach—the availability of modern technology to activate the productive
capacities of individuals, as workers and bearers of culture—in the service of society.
First Secretary Fraga noted the extent to which these goals of technology in
the service of society and the state as a work in progress.Internet access is growing but not free. He
noted 1,006 internet public access points available and 200 WIFI zones, and that
250,000 people use internet daily.From
a relative perspective, more internet access than in many developing states.
But what of control?There was little
mention of state supervision of internet activity, though that appeared to be understood.There was, though, an interesting twist to
the narrative of the internet—from its failures because of the policies of the
Cuban state, to its impediments as a result of the draconian consequences of
the American Embargo. That was the essence of the Cuban narrative with respect
to internet usage—which was the focus of the discussion, that Cubans blame the
Embargo, and not the Cuban state for limitations of access to sites.

First Secretary Fraga then sought to better position Cuba in
the world.It is not uncommon to think about
Cuba as isolated—a necessary but not inevitable consequence of the rhetoric of
Embargo.Cuba is caught between playing
up the isolating aspects of the Embargo while simultaneously also noting its
intense connection with the world especially with respect to economic
activity.That at its limits sets up a
contradiction that was avoided in the presentation.Here First Secretary Fraga focused on the
extensive though narrow network of Cuban trading partners.Among the principal trading partners,
unsurprisingly, are Venezuela and China.But there are others, Canada and Mexico included.Curiously there was no mention of trade
between the U.S. and Cuba even despite the Embargo.The difficulty here, of course, is one of
narrative focus.On the one hand it is
necessary to suggest the extent to which the Embargo cuts Cuba off from the
United States.And it does,
certainly.But the full effect of this
rhetorical trope also masks the reality that even under recent Republican
Presidents, the flow of trade to Cuba has been large—especially from
agricultural states.And more
importantly, First Secretary Fraga omitted the extent to which the Cuban
economy—like those of other Caribbean states—are heavily dependent on
remittances from their respective diasporas.

The same theme of American isolation through the Embargo but
surmounted by Cuban ingenuity and the strength of its national character was
brought to bear in discussions about the extent to which Cuba is embedded in
Cubal politics.And certainly it is
without any question that Cuba has consistently been far more influential on
the world stage than its size and economic capacity would otherwise
suggest.Cuban international politics is
a remarkable success story againstgreat
dds and First Secretary Fraga was right to be proud. But it also does undermine
the argument about the extent of the damage caused Cuba by the Embargo.A resolution of this contradiction awaits. Cuba
is not isolated politically and has 114 foreign diplomatic missions in Cuba and
122 Cuban embassies and missions abroad—though some of them are bare bones. Speak
to the service provided by Cuban doctors abroad. And indeed, even the Israeli’s
have sought ot study the success of this medical diplomacy as a model.First Secretary Fraga did note the controversy
over some aspects of this medical diplomacy—the charges made that such doctors
do not really volunteer for service abroad and that in any case the Cuban state
pockets much of the money it makes from the provision of medical assistance,
paying doctors a small fraction of the fees the Cuban state charges. First
Secretary Fraga rejected the argument that doctors are merely sources of
revenue—noting missions of doctors to Africa and Afghanistan. He emphasized the
positive aspects of medical engagement,and its successes instead. He noted
proudly the extent of Cuban aid to
Africa to combat Ebola as well as the “quick reaction medical corps” First
Secretary Fraga nicely noted the irony of the rejection by the United States of
offer of doctors to New Orleans after Katrina in 2005. He also pointed to the
projects: “Si se puede” thathas
targeted illiteracy as well as ELAM training doctors.

And thus on to normalization after Dec. 17, 2015.First Secretary Fraga started with a slight
poke at American press coverage of the state visit of the 44th
President to Cuba.He marveled at the
irony that the Cubans published Pres Obama’s speech in Spanish but Raul
Castro’s speech was not published in English by US press.He cold offer no reason.He noted the basis for further normalization
in American public opinion—a point he stressed more than once. He pointed to
polls that suggests a national willingness to push normalization forward. In a
nod to the political power and influence of the Cuban-American community in
South Florida, he noted a Florida International University poll that suggested
that majority of Cuban Americans want better relations.It is on that basis, First Secretary Fraga
suggested, that negotiations have been carried out. In that respect he noted
the extensive number of meetings held between both sides prior to the November
2016 elections. The combination of polling data and confidence building
meetings proves to First Secretary Fraga that, indeed, it will be possible to
build better relations despite the long rupture. Among the hopeful signs—Cuba’s
designation as a state sponsor of terrorism rescinded May 29, 2015.The
legitimacy of this decision was emphasized.This is an especially sensitive subject for Cuba that has taken the
position that politics rather than facts drive the designation and using as
proof the fact that while Cuba was designated a state sponsor, Chile (which had
ordered the assassination ofone of its
former officials in Washington DC) was not. He very carefully notedthat Cubans also suffered from terrorism in
the US Sept. 11, 1980 when a Cuban diplomat was assassinated in Cuba, he also
referenced the Oct 6, 1076bombing of
Cuban airlines flight 455. He avoided intimations of US government
involvement—a change of discourse that itself speaks to the possibilities of
improvement in dialogue. Very proud of sending troops to aid South African
rebels and support Latin American leftist causes. Thus he underlined his point—that
the problem is not on the Cuban side; instead at its root is the double
standard when it comes to Cuba in the United States. For all that, Cuba
believes that change is possible.First
Secretary Fraga proudly recalled submitting his credentials and those of the
ambassador to the 44th President. He noted that Cuba still occupies
the same embassy building where Cuba established itself in 1916.

This possibility is already showing signs of
actualization.First Secretary Fraga
pointed to polling data from the United States (Atlantic Council) suggesting that
a majority of U.S. residents think Cuban policy is on the right track (68%)
(Nov. 2015). US nationals now view Cuba more favorably than in many decades
before.Many American officials have
been visiting—governors, US officials and the like.Lots of American officials are eager to stake
out territory in Cuba.For First
Secretary Fraga, this served not merely as evidence of change but also of the
Cuban position that the demand for change is strong on the American side
judging by its polling and the actions of its political and business sectors. All
he suggested came back noting the need to lift the Embargo. As to property
claims he suggested that the only way forward is through state to state
bilateral agreements that settle all claims globally at least with respect to
the property lost by foreign nationals after 1959.Indeed, he offered examples
of such global resolution in state to state arrangements between Cuba and other
states whose nationals lost property in the wake of the 1959 Revolution. That,
it appeared to be suggested, might serve as the template.Indeed, the United States has engaged in that
sort of global resolution before.Most
notably its resolution of both claims against Iran, and two generations earlier
against the Soviet Union stand as models approved by the U.S. courts.On the other hand, the federal judiciary is
much changed since the 1980s and its taste for these sorts of arrangements has
yet to be re-tested.

First Secretary Fraga then asked, about the nature and
direction of the way forward in the style of Lenin’s “What is to be Done? He
pointed first to the practical: Mail, environment, law enforcement, claims,
human rights, global health, travel, commerce, etc. And he noted their form,
stressing the importance of bilateral arrangements of the sort that the 45th
President appears to prefer--22 bilateral agreements signed already.But the core objective of these means must,
from the Cuban perspective, be driven by a common ends—the dismantling of the
U.S. Embargo. He First Secretary Fraga underlined the Cuban position, that the
Embargo has illegitimate form its inception and that—at last form the
perspective of the 21st century, suggests bad motive, or motives
tinged with potential human rights implications.To
that end he pointed to a 1960 memo within state department that suggested the
recognition of the effort to undermine the regime by causing harm to the Cuban
population. Of course, one memo does not a policy make.And it is not clear that the President shared
those views.But as a narrative
enhancing device it well served its purpose.

But for First Secretary Fraga, and the Cuban state, the Embargo
also represents a multilateral matter.The Cubans put special store by the constant stream of General Assembly
resolutions decrying the U.S. Embargo and seeking its dismantling.Yet the General Assembly has decried many
events, some of which it might later have come to regret.And in any case, it is difficult to base a
legal argument on moral or political claims. That applies as well to the
arguments respecting the return of the Guantanamo naval base.Another issue is Guantanamo and its return. He provided the Cuban perspective. US controls
the base and the bay.Based on 1903
Platt Amendment and signed under conditions of occupation (but of course the
amendment was the price of lifting the occupation). Supplemented by 1934
Treaty. He argues that the base is not strategic and it is not about money—they
want their territory back. There the law is not on the Cuban side—even the
international law that Cuba deploys when it is in its interests.In the absence of law, then, there are calls
to justice, and both the Embargo claims and those for the return of Guantanamo
must, out of necessity rely on justice claims because the law (from the
American perspective) is not on the Cuban side.

First Secretary Fraga also argues money. First, hinting at
either reparations or at deductions from claims to be made against the state
for its appropriation of property without compensation early in the
Revolutionary period, First Secretary Fraga has amped up the size and scope of
the “costs” of the Embargo to Cuba, He estimated that the Embargo has costs
$4.6 billion a year. But the United States also wounds itselfin its efforts ot
enforce the Embargo against its unwilling nationals. He hinted at the the same
sort of difficulty that the United States faced in enforcing Prohibition (an
analogy not directly drawn but implied) First Secretary Fraga noted that the US
continues to fine for violation of Embargo regulations—fining 7 Americans and 4
foreigners$2.863 million.He also noted President Obama’s discussion of
Cuba in his last state of the union speech and his suggestion that the Embargo
be dismantled.So why, he asked, is the
Embargo still in place? That, of course, is now a question better asked the 45th
President and the current Congress both of whom will likely apply their own
narratives to the resolution of that issue—and perhaps less to the liking of
the Cuban state.

That counter narrative by the current President and Congress
also may enhance rather than diminish the set of annoyances that trouble U.S,
Cuban relations.Among these, Cuba is
annoyed about what they see as the continuing U.S. project of political subversion
and destabilization through their pro democracy efforts funded by US agencies. Radio
and TV Martí were offered as among the most glaring examples.Yet both have proven ineffective—and likely
pose no threat to anything but national pride. From 1996 through 2014 “264
millionearmarked for democracy
efforts.These efforst are, of course,
disrespectful of the Cuban system, but then normalization will not bring Cubans
to a greater respect for the markets based republican system of the United
States, nor convince the U.S. that Cuban syle Marxist Leninist political
organization is legitimate. More potentially troubling is the continued control
by the United States of the travel of its own nationals into Cuba. First
Secretary Fraga noted ongoing efforts were in full steam through the end of the
last Congressional session including S 299 and S 491 freedom to travel to Cuba
and freedom to export to Cuba.Also
noted HR 351 freedom to travel. But it
is not clear what the fate of these efforts will be under the 45th
Presidency.

For all that First Secretary Fraga, and the Cuban state, believes
there is opportunity on each side.Cuba
is a net food importer.Now breaking
barriers: cruise ships, flights, 3 hotels run by US companies (in partnership
with Cuban military SOEs), agreements with telecommunications, with google, and
Alabama and California passed resolution in favor of better relations, and
Pittsburgh “boxing on the bridge” with rematch in Pinar del Rio. Over 280,000
US visitors and 329,000 Cubans visiting Island.

First Secretary Fraga noted other opportunities for health
cooperation—especially pointing to diabetes drug reducing need for amputation
(on that has been tested through Spanish partner in EU).Also pointed to the restrictions on no medical tourism to Cuba for US nationals.On the plus side the U.S. has opened itself
to cooperation in medical research; Roswell Park now has license for trials to
test anti cancer vaccine produced in Cuba. 3 Cuban doctors travelled to U.
Illinois to visit low income neighborhoods for community based care advances. Spoke
wistfully about Pres Obama’s commitment to Embargo dismantling. First Secretary
Fraga referenced at several points Presidential quotes hopeful of deepening relations
and noting his executive orders. But there was no mention of the 45th
President.That omission was noticeable
and suggests both the state of uncertainty and the potential worry that this
change might bring to the trajectory of normalization.

Thus First Secretary Fraga ended his talk on a positive
note—even the Cuban American community in Miami, what had once been the driver
of and center of antagonism to the current political regime on the Island, even
the Cuban American community First Secretary Fraga asserted are now majority in
support of lifting the Embargo. If they have no objection what is left? Of
course, that statement of support from the Cuban American community is
substantially more complicated than a simple yes go forward conclusion.The opposition remains strong in larger
quarters than might be suggested by the polls.But what is remarkable is the willingness of a majority of Cuban
Americans to be pragmatic in their approach to relations with Cuba.That might be a function of time and of the
passing of that generation that felt the effects of the revolution on a much
more personal level. Yet that pragmatic turn may be all that is necessary to
move forward

That shape of the movement he
noted in one of his last Powerpoint slides that now follows:

The hopefulness was al well expressed in the message sent to
the 45th President by the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist
Party at the CELAC Summit 1-25-2017.

The First Secretary then ended with an invitation in the form of questions:

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All essays are (c) Larry Catá Backer except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved. The essays may be cited and quoted with appropriate reference. Suggested reference as follows: Larry Catá Backer, [Essay Title], Law at the End of the Day, ([Essay Posting Date]) available at [http address].

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Globalization: Law and Policy will include an integrated bodyof scholarship that critically addresses key issues and theoretical debates in comparative and transnational law. Volumes in the series will focus on the consequential effects of globalization, including emerging frameworks and processes for the internationalization, legal harmonization, juridification and democratization of law among increasingly connected political, economic, religious, cultural, ethnic and other functionally differentiated governance communities. This series is intended as a resource for scholars, students, policy makers and civil society actors, and will include a balance of theoretical and policy studies in single-authored volumes and collections of original essays.

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About Me

I hope you enjoy these essays. Each treats aspects of the relationship between law, broadly understood, and human organization. My essays are about government and governance, based on the following assumptions: Humans organize themselves in all sorts of ways. We bind ourselves to organization by all sorts of instruments. Law has been deployed to elaborate differences between economic organizations (principally corporations, partnerships and other entities), political organization (the state, supra-national, international, and non-governmental organizations), religious, ethnic and family organization. I am not convinced that these separations, now sometimes blindly embraced, are particularly useful. This skepticism serves as the foundation of the essays here. My thanks to Arianna Backer for research assistance.